Hector Silva

Area 51 was conceived in the offices of Mesa Logic, Lewisville, Texas. During the development of Area 51 Hector Silva worked with owner and programmer Robert Weatherby of Mesa Logic and collaborated in the development of scripts to automate the animation of sprites within 3D Studio. Because Area 51 was a secret base and even denied by the U.S. government as existing, it was impossible to obtain plans of the base. The team discovered some old satellite photos of the base taken by Russian satellites and published in a magazine. Silva was given the assignment to recreate the airfield, hangars and basically the entire layout of the base. In a creative mode Silva obtained plans to a fossil fuel nuclear plant and reconstructed the facility in 3D studio which was to be the third level in the game. Due to the small hard drive and lack of space it was determined to forego the level that included the nuclear facility, it was however used in the next game ‘Maximum Force’.

The team consisted of two programmers and three animators; Silva, the lead animator and two students fresh out of the Art Institute of Dallas, James Webb and Guy Fumagali. James Webb was a great camera man and did the entire camera work for Area 51. Guy Fumagali was especially fond of special effects and set fire to everything he could. James Mestemaker joined us late in the game but also contributed with ideas and hard work. In addition to the initial Area 51 team a couple of special guys Mike and Charlie from Atari contributed with the game engine and game play. This team worked really hard and put in many long hours during development, as a result of all the hard work, Area 51 became a #1 game and stayed on top for over a year.

Ground breaking technology using alpha channels to seamlessly blend the aliens to the movie fooled everyone into thinking it was a real time 3D game. The secret rooms were a last minute thought, when the team discovered there was just enough room for still backgrounds with animation overlays. Silva was responsible for the alien eggs in the radioactive soup. Webb did the bathroom scene and Fumagali worked on the Buddha room.

Before coming to Mesa Logic, Silva worked as the Director of 3D graphics at NVision Grafix creating 3D content for their Hollusion Posters. Along with poster creation Silva headed the team for NVision Grafix’s first coffee table book.
At this time Silva is working full time with an Architectural /Engineering firm in Dallas and is also working on his own game called 'Stumbling Blocks and Devils' under his company Ector Productions. This game should be ready for market by 4th Qtr. 2007.